From Staff Reports

HENDERSONVILLE — The Henderson County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 18 postponed consideration of a resolution on its agenda calling for partisan School Board elections to its 5:30 p.m. Feb. 6 meeting.

The move was made as the result of being “under pressure from constituents demanding public input,” according to a report in the Jan. 25 edition of the Hendersonville Lightning.

The newspaper noted that “support for the resolution did not appear to be in doubt and, in fact, the effort may be expanded.”

Three commissioners voiced support for partisan school board elections, prompting a suggestion from Vice Chairman Michael Edney that the comissioners might want to ask the state General Assembly to make all muncipal elections partisan, too, including Hendersonville City Council elections.

“At least one (Henderson) School Board member has raised some concerns and wants some time,” Edney said at the meeting, according to the Lightning. “Secondly, I want some more time because I question whether we need to stop at the School Board and maybe not ask that all local elections be partisan. I just want some time to think about that. Same rationale for School Board goes with all these other local offices. And I just want some time to think about that.”

The Lightning report added, “When Commissioner Daniel Andreotta said he wasn’t aware there were other nonpartisan elections, Edney said he was referring to muncipal elections.

“Andreotta, who introduced the resolution defended the proposal and responded to feedback he had received,” the Lightning noted, and then quoted Andreotta as saiyng the board had received “a lot of pro and con comment on this topic.” 

Andreotta said later that voters should have all the information possible” for them to make an intelligent decision on Election Day.

Also endorsing the resolution was Commissioner David Hill, who noted, according to the Lightning, “I agree with Commissioner Andreotta. This is about information to the voter. Information is key.”